Judge denies work release, home confinement requests for former Dover school board chairman

DOVER – Judge Tina Nadeau this week denied a Department of Correction request for home confinement or work release for former Dover School Board chairman Nick Skaltsis, who pleaded guilty last year to defrauding friends and neighbors of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A hearing was held Monday after the department requested administrative home confinement for Skaltsis, who was sentenced in July 2013 to serve at least 18 months in prison and pay nearly $278,000 in restitution after he was convicted of scamming a dozen victims.

Skaltsis had pleaded guilty to three counts of theft by deception and one count of theft by misappropriation of property.

Judge Nadeau of Strafford County Superior Court, wrote in her decision, issued Wednesday, that Monday’s hearing addressed both the department’s request for home confinement and a previous approval for Skaltsis’ participation in a work-release program.

Nadeau denied both in her Wednesday decision.

Nadeau wrote that Skaltsis should serve “nothing less” than his original sentence.

She wrote that the work-release approval had been “unfortunately” signed by the county attorney’s office, although the Attorney General’s Office was the prosecuting entity in the case.

Skaltsis was originally charged with 15 counts of theft by deception and four counts of theft by misappropriation of property for falsely accepting about $327,500 in loans from 13 area residents to rehabilitate distressed real estate properties for resale.

Skaltsis never used the money to buy, renovate or sell any properties, and instead used it for his own benefit, according to Assistant Attorney General Robert Adams.

He was chairman of Dover’s school board in 2002.

Nadeau wrote that while the court “generally supports the Department of Corrections’ efforts to enhance rehabilitation” through programs such as home confinement, such a program wouldn’t be appropriate for Skaltsis, whom she said doesn’t need assistance finding employment or housing.

“This is a defendant who needs to serve his minimum sentence, which the court originally was reluctant to accept in light of its leniency, as retribution for his outrageous conduct,” Nadeau wrote. “He victimized at least 11 separate victims by conning them into turning over their retirement funds with a promise of sizable returns on their investments. Instead of delivering on his promises, he used deceit and manipulation to permanently deprive them of their life savings.”